Kovacic, who appeared five times at the World Cup as Croatia reached the final, has often had to play second fiddle at Santiago Bernabeu, with the likes of Casemiro, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos preferred in central midfield.

"Mateo has said he wants to leave. I want him to stay – he's an important player. We'll see how everything ends up. If he happens to leave, we'll look for solutions."

Pressed on how he would react if Kovacic does depart, Lopetegui added: "The solutions are something we'd speak about privately within the club. If Mateo does leave, a player of his level, which is extremely high, we'll have to look for someone at that type of level.

"To reach all of our objectives we need to have a balanced team and he [plays] a very important position and he's a very important player."

Lopetegui also commented on Modric's future, with the midfielder having been linked with a possible switch to Serie A side Inter.